Former DeMaio deputy campaign manager says Todd Bosnich was not fired for plagiarism

To swat down allegations that he sexually harassed former staffer Todd Bosnich, Carl DeMaio has insisted that Bosnich is retaliating after being fired for plagiarizing a May 12 report on congressional pensions.

Bosnich has countered that he was fired because he confronted DeMaio on his inappropriate behavior and refused to accept $50,000 in hush money.

Earlier this week, Alison Rentschler, who worked as DeMaio's deputy campaign manager for several weeks this past spring-before leaving to work for the San Diego County Republican Party-sent CityBeat a statement, saying that Bosnich "is an honest and trustworthy person" who wasn't fired for plagiarism. CityBeat gave the DeMaio campaign a day-and-a-half to respond, but received no comment. Here's Rentschler's full statement: ---

"I worked at the Carl DeMaio campaign as the Deputy Campaign Manager in May 2014 and can confirm Todd was not fired for plagiarism. Carl was very involved with the report and referred to it as his 'baby.' I know Todd, he is an honest and trustworthy person."

Rentschler told CityBeat that she couldn't comment further because she's "currently a cooperating witness" in an FBI investigation into threats made to Bosnich and his mother after he quit the DeMaio campaign. NBC7 reported on the investigation earlier this week.

Bosnich has produced emails to support his claim that he was fired on May 19-the day he said he was offered the $50,000. He also admitted that DeMaio had him alter both DeMaio's and Scott Peters' Wikipedia pages; Bosnich did so under the handle "VickieJR," and a log shows an edit being made at 1:32 a.m. on May 19.

DeMaio's been caught making self-promotional changes to his Wikipedia page in the past, something that's verboten under Wikipedia user rules.